Forced air heating furnace



June 13, 1939. 5 STEPHENS 2,162,411

' FORCED AIR HEATING FURNACE Filed Feb. 17,1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1ATTORNEY.

June 13, 1939. B. F. STEPHENS 2,162,411

FORCED AIR HEATING FURNACE Filed Feb; 17, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

June 13, 1939.

B. F. STEPHENS FORCED AIR HEATING FURNACE Filed Feb. 17, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY;

Patented June 13, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIGE- FORCED AIR- HEATINGFURNACE Benjamin F. Stephens, Tulsa, Okla.

Application February 1'1, 1938, Serial No. 190,892

4 Claims.

10 circulated through the furnace and through the rooms of the residenceto be heated by a blower which is usually located in proximity to thefurnace and draws the cool air through suitable conduits from the roomsand discharges the same 15 into and through the furnace, from whenceafter being heated itis returned to the rooms to heat the same.

n One of the primary purposes of my present invention is to provide afurnace of the character indicated which will be highly eflicient in useso that the maximum number of heat units generated in the furnace willbe picked up by the heating air as it travels through the furnace andthereby utilized for heating purposes.

85 With this purpose in view, my invention contemplates the direction ofthe heating air through the furnace in such a manner that it will beexposed to the heating influence of the products of combustion for asubstantial distance and length of time during its travel through the.furnace. Additionally, the products of combustion are bailled and causedto travel in a tortuous path so that maximum heat units may heabstracted therefrom before such products leave the furnace 35 and enterthe stack. e

Other objects and many of the inhere'nt advantages of my inventionshould be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood byreference to the, following description when considered in connectionwiththe accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view. of the exteriorof a furnace constructed in accordance with my invention; 45 Fig. 2 is alongitudinal sectional view from front to rear of the furnace shown inFig. 1 taken on v .the line 2-2of Fig.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; a 1 50Fig. 4 is a plan view on a reduced scale of the furnace structure withthe outer casing removed;

and 1 Fig. Sis a perspective view of the furnace with the outer casingremoved,- some of the parts being broken away to expose portionsotherwise concealed.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, reference character 6indicates generally the outer jacket or casing of the furnace which forheat insulation purposes is preferably of double wall construction as'illustrated. The space between the walls is usually filled with suitableinsulating material. The dome of the Jacket is provided with one or moreopenings (not shown) for con- 10 nection to hot air conduits leading tothe rooms to be heated through which the heated air is delivered fromthe furnace. The furnace front is provided with a door 1 opening intothe cornbustion chamber 8 in which are located a plurality of burners'9,here illustrated as being of a type adapted to burn natural gas which issupplied to the burners from a pipe i i. Pilot burners l2 positioned inproximity to the main burners receive their gas supply from a pipe l3.Below the door I, the furnace is provided with an air inlet openingequipped with louvers H for draft regulation purposes, the air enteringthrough these louvers being conductedby a conduit L5 to the mixing boxIt where it is mixed with the gas delivered by the pipe ii to produce acombustible mixture of the required proportions for the burners.

An open ended heating chamber i'l, shaped as shown in Fig. 3, extendslongitudinally through 0 the combustion chamber 8 and is protectedagainst the intense heat from the burners by a protecting baflie l8. Theproducts of combustion from the burners rising at each side of thechamber |I are deflected toward the rear of the charnher by a pair ofbaflle plates l9; illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, from whence the productsof combustion pass from the combustion chamber through an outlet opening2| at the forward end of the chamber into a transverse passage 22 from40 the ends of which such products 'enter the side compartments 23,through which the lateral heating chambers 24 extend from end to end. Toinsure prolonged heating contact of the products of combustion with theexterior walls of these lateral heating chambers, the compartments 23 aare equipped with bailies 25 which cause the products to flow in atortuous path through these compartments into a transverse connectingchamher or conduit 26 at the rear of the furnace and from which theproducts are discharged through a pipe 21 to the stack or chimney. f

It will be apparent, therefore, that the products of combustion travelin quite a tortuous 'path through the furnace, first around the baillesI! in the combustion chamber, then transversely through the passage 22,then around the bailies in the compartments 23, thence into thetransverse passage 26 at the other end of the furnace, and flnally outthrough the pipe 21. During its passage through the furnace in thistortuous path, the products of combustion are brought in prolongedcontact with the walls of the heating chamber l1, and likewise, inprolonged contact with the walls of the lateral chambers 24 so that alarge proportion of the heat units of the products are delivered throughthese walls to the interiors of these chambers, and in addition, someheat is further given off through the walls of the combustion chamber,the walls of the side compartments, and the walls of the transversepassages 22 and 26.

The air to be heated and delivered to the rooms is conducted to thefurnace by a conduit 28 (Fig. 2) from a blower 30 of any preferredconstruction which is conventionally shown. The

air enters the furnace through the rear wall of the jacket near thebottom thereof, and some of Jacket.

it passes into the vertical conduit 23, from which it is directed bydeflectors 3| into the heating chamber H where it is heated by thesurrounding products of combustion in the combustion chamber and is thendirected by deflectors 32 at the opposite end of the chamber into anupwardly opening conduit 33, from which it is discharged upwardlynearthe front wall of the A large proportion of the remaining air deliveredby conduit 28 enters the two vertical conduits 34 disposed on oppositesides of the combustion chamber, and from. the upper ends of theseconduits such air is directed'by the deflectors 35 into the forward endsof the heating chambers 24, through which such air flows under pressureand is discharged from the rear ends of such chambers. This heated airrises to the top of the jacket from whence it is conducted by theheating conduits to the rooms to be heated.

It will be apparent, therefore, that some of the air is passed throughthe furnace from rear to front thereof through the heating chamberlocated in the combustion chamber, that other air is passed along, thesides of the lower portion of the combustion chamber, is then conductedupwardly and directed into the lateral heating chambers where itlikewise is heated by the profiucts of combustion surrounding thesechambers, and that the remaining air which falls to enter either conduit29 or conduits 34 flows upwardly around the combustion chamber andaround the lateral compartments 23 so as to be heated thereby, whereuponthis air together with that delivered from the chambers 24 and ;thechamber l1 become intermingled at the top of the furnace for deliverythrough the hot air conduits for heating purposes.

For the purpose of maintaining the heated air at the proper humidity, anopen top receptacle is mounted on the top wall'of the combustion chamberand is supplied with water through a pipe 38 from a receptacle 39mounted on the front of the furnace into which the water may be pouredfrom a pail, or suitable automatic mechanism for maintaining apredetermined water level in the receptacle 31 may be employed ifpreferred. w

The construction, method of operation, and advantages of the furnaceembodying the principles of my invention should be apparent from theforegoing without further description, and it should be manifest thatthe structural details illustrated and described are capable ofmodification within considerable limits without departing from theessence of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

, .1. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber, a heating chamberextending longitudinally therethrough, a blower, a conduit. fordelivering forced air from said blower into the rear end of said heatingchamber, upwardly turned deflectors interposed in the path of the airissuing from the other end of said chamber, a pair of lateral heatingchambers, conduits for delivering forced air from said blower into thefront end of each of said lateral chambers, means for deflectingupwardly the heated air issuing from said lateral chambers, and meansfor conducting products of combustion from said combustion chamberaround said lateral heating chambers to heat the air flowingtherethrough.

2. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber, a heating chamberextending longitudinally therethrough, a conduit for delivering forcedair into the front end of said heating chamber, a blower for forcingsaid air through the conduit, deflectors for diverting air upwardly fromthe other end of said chamber, a pair of laterally disposed heatingchambers extending longitudinally of the furnace, means for conductingproducts of combustion around said heating chambers to heat the same,conduits for delivering forced air into the rear ends of said lateralchambers, and a furnace jacket into which the heated air from all ofsaid heating chambers is delivered.

3. In a furnace,'the combination of a combustion chamber, a heatingchamber extending therethrough, an outlet conduit at one end of saidcombustion chamber, a transverse conduit communicating with said outletconduit, heating compartments communicating with said transverseconduit, a transverse conduit connected with the opposite ends of saidheating compartments, a delivery conduit communicating with said lastmentioned transverse conduit, heating chambers arranged in said heatingcompartments, conduits for delivering air into each of said heatingchambers, deflectors in said conduits for distributing the air deliveredto the chambers, a blower for discharging air into said conduits, and ajacket enclosing said furnace.

4. A furnace comprising a combustion chamber, a heating compartmentlocated at each side of said combustion chamber, an open ended heatingchamber extending through said combustion chamber, an open ended heatingchamber extending through each of said heating compartments, an outletfor products of combustion from the furnace, conduits for conductingproducts of combustion from said combustion chamber through said heatingcompartments surrounding the heating chambers therein, baflles in saidlateral heating compartments arranged to direct the flow of combustionproducts through the compartments around said chambers, a blower, aconduit for delivering air into the rear end of the heating chamberlocated in the combustion chamber, conduits arranged to deliver air intothe front ends of the heating chambers located in said heatingcompartments, and deflectors for deflecting the air issuing from saidheating compartments upwardly within said casing.

BENJAMIN F. STEPHENS.

